Twitter strengthens accounts of US politicians and journalists

Twitter announced Thursday that it is preparing to improve the security of accounts of American organizations and politicians, as well as those of journalists and the media, ahead of the presidential election in November and two months after a spectacular hack on the platform.

Affected accounts will be required to use a strong password and encouraged to allow two-factor authentication, a method considered more secure for users.

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Twitter will also be implementing a default password reset tool to prevent unwanted changes to the means of authentication.

Other changes are planned in the coming weeks, including an improvement in the means of detecting suspicious activity, a reinforcement of the protections of the identifiers and a greater speed for the restoration of the accounts.

The accounts for which these measures will apply are those of members of the US executive and Congress, governors and secretaries of state, and presidential campaign officials, political parties and election candidates verified by Twitter.

Growing concern

The accounts of major US media organizations and political journalists will also receive a notification warning them of these changes.

The announcements come amid growing concern over attempts to hack Twitter and other social networks about a month and a half before the US presidential election.

In mid-July, the accounts of many prominent American politicians, including Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama, had been targeted by a cyberattack.

Other celebrities like Tesla boss Elon Musk or Microsoft founder Bill Gates were also hacked.

Three young Americans, aged 17 to 22, have been indicted for the massive attack, which is said to have allowed them to raise more than $ 100,000 in cryptocurrency.

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